Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of C. Brian Kelly, Accession #10566, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Kelly Papers were a gift to the Library from Mr. C. Brian Kelly, of the Department of English, Wilson Hall, the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, on September 28, 1983.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of ca. 5,000 items (12 boxes); ca. 4.5 linear shelf feet), 1959-1978, research files of C. Brian Kelly, a staff writer for the Washington Star . These papers include reporter and teletype copies of news stories, newspaper clippings, pres release, correspondence, photographs, and printed and miscellaneous related items. Kelly was based in Richmond, and reported on Virginia politics and related events including the activities of the General Assembly and the governors, and on political campaigns. Most of the material pertains to state-wide elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and the U.S. Senate. Prominent politicians mentioned include William Battle, Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Clive DuVal, Linwood Holton, Henry Howell, Andrew Miller, and John Warner. Other topics addressed by the General Assembly or related to the Virginia political scene include wetlands, kepone, desegregation in Prince Edward County, the Bicentennial, the Potomac River Basin Compact, the 1977 bond issue, VEPCO rates and the North Anna controversy, and inaugural festivities.

Of special interest is a photostatic copy of a letter from Libby Prison, Richmond, November 12, 1863, from Union Colonel Abel D. Streight of the Fifty-first Indiana to Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton. In his letter Streight complains of conditions in the prison; he and his men had been captured by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest after attempting raids in Georgia and Alabama. Streight and over one hundred Union officers eventually escaped from the prison by a tunnel in 1864. The original letter was a gift to Virginia Governor-elect Linwood Holton.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into two series: General Subject Files, and Political Campaigns and Elections. Folders are arranged alphabetically and chronologically.